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Sunday, 4 September 2016

Las Cañadas to Poris de Abona - A walk from Summit to Sea

The 'El Filo' path is a route in the Las Canadas National Park that starts from the TF24 road close to El Portillo and initially follows a broad track through the desert scenery of the park as it weaves through the Tiede Broom and heads towards the parador. I recently set off on a two day hike following the path as it wound it's way through the parched landscape typically found in this part of the park. Being summer, the weather was very hot and as I could not be sure that I would be able to replenish my water supplies, I carried around 7.5 litres in my pack, which made it quite heavy when combined with my camping gear.

In the early part of the walk, there were superb views of Teide and I took numerous photos of the imposing cone, which dominated the scenery. Eventually, the broad, dusty path veered away to the left and began to ascend the rim of the vast caldera and, once on the top, the scenery became even more impressive as the route crossed and re-crossed the ridge, giving views both to the south-eastern parts of the island to the coast and also to the northern side of the ridge, affording excellent views into Las Canadas.

Roque de La Grieta

Ahead, the views of the ridge were punctuated by the peaks of Roque de La Grieta, Montaña Pasajiron and in the distance to Montaña Guajara, Tenerife's third highest peak which towers over the parador. After around three and a half hours, I dropped off of the ridge into the pine forest above Arico before heading to El Contador, a recreation/camping/BBQ area high in the pine forest.

Los Roques de Tamadaya

As I approached El Contador, I discovered a camping area above it called Fuente del Llanos and veered off towards it. Here, I found some fairly level ground and pitched my tent. I spent a peaceful evening watching the sun go down and enjoyed the silence as I sat outside my tent stargazing. The following morning, I was up early and drank coffee as the sunrise bathed the high mountains I had descended from the day before in a soft, pink light.

Camping at Fuente del Llanos

After packing up my campsite, I began my descent to El Contador and the Barranco de Tamadaya. Reaching the El Contador recreation zone, I replenished my water supplies from a tap in the barbecue area and passed the Casas del Contador and climbed into the forest towards the Barranco de Tamadaya.

Arico Nuevo

The views into the barranco to the pine-clad Roques de Tamadaya formation were particularly impressive. Eventually, I reached the pretty village of Arico de Nuevo from where I followed a path past wind turbines to El Poris on the coast.